Verlander roughed up again in loss to White Sox

Thursday

Jun 12, 2014 at 12:02 AMJun 12, 2014 at 12:02 AM

The Associated Press

CHICAGO — Jose Abreu hit an early homer off Justin Verlander, then singled to start a seven-run burst in the sixth inning that sent John Danks and the Chicago White Sox over the Detroit Tigers 8-2 Wednesday night.Abreu went 3 for 4 with a walk and scored twice. The Cuban rookie has 19 home runs and 50 RBIs this season.Danks (5-5) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings to continue his recent turnaround. He has permitted just five runs in 29 1-3 innings over his last four starts.Verlander (6-6) gave up seven runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.The seven runs in an inning matched a season high for Chicago. The White Sox, who have won two straight against the AL Central-leading Tigers, also scored seven on May 9 against Arizona.Abreu connected on Verlander's first pitch of the second inning for a solo homer over the left-center field wall.Detroit tied it in the fourth when Miguel Cabrera doubled and scored on a groundout by Torii Hunter.Singles by Abreu, Adam Dunn and Alexei Ramirez loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth. Dayan Viciedo grounded into a double play and Abreu scored for a 2-1 lead.It appeared as if Verlander might escape with just one run scoring, but Alejandro De Aza followed with a bloop single for a run, and Adrian Nieto and Adam Eaton drew walks to load the bases.That brought up Gordon Beckham, and Detroit manager Brad Ausmus kept Verlander in the game despite the right-hander having thrown 121 pitches to that point. The next pitch was a 96 mph fastball that Beckham lined for a two-run single.Reliever Ian Krol faced three batters and retired no one. He gave up a two-run double to Conor Gillaspie and — following an intentional walk to Abreu — an RBI single to Dunn.NOTES: Cabrera (left hamstring) said he was feeling better Wednesday, but Ausmus decided to keep the slugger at DH. "Give him another day," Ausmus said. "We don't want this lingering." ... The White Sox have signed nine of their first 10 draft picks so far, with the lone holdout being LHP Carlos Rodon, the No. 3 pick overall. ... The Tigers decided to skip LHP Drew Smyly and keep the matchup between Max Scherer (7-2) and Chris Sale (5-0) for the series finale on Thursday. Smyly, originally scheduled to pitch Wednesday, will pitch Friday against Minnesota.